The invention relates to a tube and a tube body having an electronic device, and also to a method for producing a tube body.
Tubes are generally employed for the storage and dispensing of liquid or pasty media in various fields of application. These include, specifically, the fields of foodstuffs, pharmaceuticals, medical technology and cosmetics.
Various parameters, including e.g. size, shape, materials and production techniques employed, the design of the tube body, the tube shoulder incorporating the tube opening and the stopper, specifically the incorporation of protective layers, form and function, decoration, imprints, information on contents etc. can be provided by the widest variety of means, in accordance with respective requirements.
In the case of products with a limited storage life and/or which can only be stored under certain environmental conditions, for example foodstuffs, medical, pharmaceutical or cosmetic products, the indication of corresponding information on the tube is important. For example, the printing of an expiry date or batch number on the outer side of the tube body, or the embossing thereof in the sealing seam at the lower end of the tube body, are therefore known. The space for such information, which is not applied until the filling of the tube, is generally very small. Consequently, only limited information can be applied to the tube in this manner.
Further information, including e.g. data on the contents of the tube, the storage or application thereof, or potential hazards, can be indicated, for example, on a visible outer decorative layer of the tube body. Here again, available space for this purpose is generally too small. Consequently, important information is customarily indicated on package leaflets. This is only possible if tubes are distributed with additional packaging. Moreover, package leaflets are frequently produced in multiple languages, with very small or barely legible print. Package leaflets can also be lost, if they are not kept together with the tubes.
Tubes customarily incorporate a tamper-evident seal which, upon the first opening of the stopper, is irreversibly destroyed or altered.
However, it is not possible for a user of the tube to detect whether this is an original seal, or a deceptively similar counterfeit. Likewise, it cannot be detected whether the tube has been correctly stored and/or transported.
For the manufacture of tubes, it is known for tube bodies to be formed from a sheet material, which comprises at least one layer of a plastic such as, e.g. polyethylene (PE) or polypropylene (PP). This sheet material can incorporate a barrier layer or sealing layer, for example a thin layer of electrically-conductive aluminum (Al), or of electrically non-conductive silicon oxide (SiO2) or aluminum oxide (Al2O3), or an ethylene vinyl alcohol copolymer (EVOH). The barrier layer, for example on one side or on both sides, can be overlaid with one or more layers of plastic.
For the manufacture of tubes, the sheet material, generally in the form of a strip material, is played-out from a supply roll and formed into a flexible hose, wherein the abutting or mutually-overlapping longitudinal edges are bonded together, for example by welding or gluing, to form a leak-tight seam. The barrier layer prevents or minimizes the diffusion or penetration, specifically of oxygen and water vapor, through the sheet material. For the manufacture of a tube, a hose section of the desired length is bonded with a tube shoulder, for example by welding, gluing or molding-on, wherein the tube shoulder is produced as a molded component by injection-molding.
From DE 10 2011 101 260, a tube of this type is known, wherein the inner surface of the tube shoulder is also provided with a sealing layer. This sealing layer forms a leak-tight seal on the barrier layer of the tube body. The continuous application of the sealing layer to the entire inner surface of the tube shoulder can be executed e.g. by vapor deposition, sputtering, or electrical and/or chemical deposition, and is comparatively complex and expensive.
From DE 10 2011 101 260, the integration of a circuit having a RFID (radio frequency identification) function and an associated antenna structure into the multi-layered sheet material is moreover known. The production of sheet materials of this type is comparatively complex and intricate. High temperatures and compression forces, of the type associated with lamination can, for example, damage or destroy a chip, if the latter is not protected against damage in an appropriate manner. Alternatively, DE 10 2011 101 260 proposes that a circuit with RFID is fitted to the wall of the tube body, i.e. to the outer side thereof. The circuit is thus visible on the exterior of the tube and, moreover, cannot be protected against damage.
In this form of embodiment, none of the layers of the sheet material employed for the tube body can be electrically conductive, as the transmission of energy and/or information via the antenna of the RFID circuit would not otherwise function.
From US 2012/0204991 a further tube is known, in which a RFID component is integrated in the tube shoulder. The tube body can be molded onto the tube shoulder, e.g. in a subsequent injection-molding process. During the manufacture of the tube shoulder, the RFID circuit must be inserted in an injection mold, positioned and embedded in plastic. This is comparatively complex and expensive. High pressures and temperatures during the injection-molding process can destroy the chip and/or the associated antenna structures, or alter the position thereof in an uncontrolled manner. Moreover, the useful surface area of the tube shoulder is relatively small, and is also interrupted by the central outlet opening. Space restrictions hinder or prevent the fitting of such RFID circuits, particularly to small tubes. As energy transmission in circuits of this type is executed by passive transponders via the antennae thereof, there is a risk that, in the case of small antennae, insufficient energy can be transmitted for the operation of circuits and/or that sufficient energy can only be provided by very strong electromagnetic fields, or using electromagnetic sources which are arranged very close to the transponders. The dispenser neck incorporating the tube opening, and a cover which closes the tube opening, can impair energy transmission and communication with the write/read device. As tube shoulders or tube heads, even in tubes of equal external diameter, can be of widely varying design, transponders must be individually configured for the different forms of embodiment. This is both complex and expensive.